Tempest in a coffee pot

Members of the Davis Dykes were appalled to discover recently that the handy cup sleeves on their take-out coffees were advocating for Focus on the Family, an international religious group based in Colorado with a lengthy history of opposing equal rights for GLBTQ people.

The cup sleeves, manufactured by San Francisco-based Britevision, promoted a “value based” program called Drug Proof Your Kids (www.drugproofyourkids.com), and its founder, Focus on the Family.

Lisa Anderson, director of PR and publicity for Focus on the Family, told SN&R that the cup sleeves were part of a national media buy but that there are no local DPYK events scheduled for the near future.

Why did the Davis Dykes object to the anti-drug message? Ellen Pontac, a longtime gay and lesbian rights activist in Davis, said that “getting into bed with Focus on the Family is a dangerous thing.” The organization’s founder, James Dobson, has opposed equal rights for GLBTQ people, and the organization has endorsed “curing” gays and lesbians of their sexual orientations.

“If it were just an anti-drug message that had no link to Focus on the Family, it would be an entirely different matter,” Pontac said.

At least one local business stopped using the Focus on the Family cup sleeves. Davis Crepeville manager Megan Gann told SN&R that she’d been unaware of Focus on the Family’s positions. “When I looked at their Web site, my heart just sank,” she said. Crepeville has “many gay and lesbian employees, so this was both inexcusable and embarrassing.”